New ice climb added to Sorapiss (Dolomites) by Mirco Grasso, Francesco Rigon

I've been wanting to poke my nose into this remote corner of the Dolomites for some time now, and last week while on a ski mountaineering trip to the Cadini di Misurina I caught sight of an ice climb on Sorapiss. The seed had been sowed.

Mirco Grasso, aka Mircon, couldn't wait to embark on a new adventure, so on Saturday evening he slept at my house and at 6 on Sunday morning we set off from Valbona, loaded like mules. Yes, because we had all the gear we needed to climb something new, and also our paragliders for an easy descent.

The approach was akin to some of those in Patagonia and it took us 5 hours to beat trail to the base of the route, and another hour to climb the pedestal. We were dead tired, but as soon as we started climbing our spirits rose. The line turned out to be far more interesting and challenging than it seemed from below, the climbing proved exciting and demanding.

At the final belay, after a bit of brainstorming on how to build an anchor without abandoning four cams, we managed to hammer in two pegs and we could finally savour having completed a beautiful new line.

We began our descent in the light of a wonderful sunset, which would have been even more beautiful seen from the wings of our paragliders which flying pleasantly back down to valley. Unfortunately this wasn't the case: we reached our gear stash in the dark and begin the "short" descent which led us back to the car 3 hours later.

The name Solo per un Sorriso, just for a smile, sprung to mind during he descent: it's incredible what we're willing to do to nab a first ascent. All that effort, for something that perhaps, seen from the outside, isn't even worth that much... but for those who experience it, it's pure joy. I thought of dedicating the climb to my son Pietro; it's intended, without pretense, to be a metaphor of what a parent is capable of doing, in exchange for just a smile from their child.

by Francesco Rigon, francescorigon.com

Francesco thanks: Karpos
Mirco thanks: Karpos, SCARPA